2 Nephi 31:19-20

Mum, Pops, Family and Friends!

Oh my goodness, hi!!! What an incredible week here in Mississauga, Ontario! Can I just say that I LOVE when it snows here?!?! 2 reasons. 1. it's BEAUTIFUL. and 2. it's warmer. I like that. :) The work in our area is progressing wonderfully and we are having so much joy and love as Sister Edwards and I serve alongside each other in this work! We had a wonderful meeting with President Scott and the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders where the Spirit was SO strong. I love our Father's work, there truly is nothing more miraculous than being apart of it! and you are too! how great is our calling, eh?!:)

let's jump into....

QUESTION TIME:

1.  Any message for Uncle Bob?

UNCLE BOB!!!! I AM SO EXCITED FOR YOU!!! Seriously. so. excited!!! :) After mission leadership council, we all went to the mission office for supplies where Sister Green told me she had a message for me, then walked over to the computer. I'll be completely honest, I thought she was going to tell me of a tragedy in my family the way she said it...yikes I was so scared. so I picked up the letter that was sent to her from mom and lo and behold it wasn't a tragedy but the completely opposite that you are getting baptized!!! among 20+ other missionaries, I squealed and jumped and hugged my companion out of excitement! I am so proud of your Christlike example that you have shown to me since I've met you and now your steadfastness in embracing the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. You are INCREDIBLE, Uncle Bob and I wish so badly that I could be there for your baptism, but alas, I'll be there in Spirit! I love you so much!! Congratulations on this exciting and perfect decision of yours!!! LOVE YOU!!!

2.  How about for dad?

PahPea, silly you for tearing your rotator cuff and not doing anything about it for 20 years. silly goose. I hope the surgery goes well, I'll be praying for you over here and that the Therapy goes well. Promise me one thing; don't push it too hard. I know you, and I know you like to get better quickly and suck up the pain and just get it done, but please. Take it from someone who took anatomy and knows the importance of the rotator cuff; be careful and smart, pops. cause, let's be honest, you want to hug me one day, don't you? how can you hug me if your still in pain because you strained yourself to get better quicker? line upon line, pops. food for thought. :) LOVE YOU!

3.  How did your first week of this transfer go?

Went just swimmingly! We were able to see Joe and Victor at church yesterday and Joe was SOO excited to be there! He expressed the opposition he felt when he awoke deciding whether he should come or not (he hasn't been to church in 7 years). He said something was just pushing him to come and ultimately, he came! The joy that was on his face was incredible. He is so excited to be more involved and for his baptism, he even wanted to go to the temple trip on Thursday and had to explain that he could go after he was baptized, and he was pretty excited about that still. :) I love the Lord's work, there is no greater assignment!!!

4.  Is Victor still progressing?

Yes :) He was also able to come to church yesterday but couldn't stay after sacrament meeting. We are wanting to visit with his family this week and get them more involved as well so it becomes a family focus rather than him on his own. We'll let you know of the progress :)

5.  Was Latavia able to attend the baptism with her mom?

sadly, no. We actually haven't been able to see Latavia or get a hold of her for a bit. She's not a very big talker on the phone or texting and she also sleeps a lot because of a sleeping disorder that she has, so we can't get a hold of her a lot. A member said they'd help contact her this week, so we'll see if she can come to another's baptism this week.

6.  Has Shelly returned yet (or not until this week)?

This Thursday! :)

7.  How is Joan feeling?

Better! We're going to see her tomorrow:)

8.  Anyone else to tell me about?

Jas and Tanya! :) last week, Sister Edwards and I made a goal to pray more specifically, because we've seen the change in our exchanges as we've been praying for these wonderful sisters by name each day. So we decided to pray specifically to find a family; a father, mother, son and daughter, to whom we could share the Restored Gospel with. just 4 days later, God answered our prayer as we dropped by an individual who I talked to about a week ago. He let us in his home immediately and we taught him and his wife and his 2 yr old son and 1 yr old daughter (didn't really mention in our prayer for them to be baptismal age ;)) it was incredible to us to see how quickly God answers prayers, sometimes, and how, when we pray specifically for individuals, blessings come. They are an AWESOME family, both said they never talked to each other about their beliefs, and it turns out Jas believes in God and Tanya has no idea, both from Czech Republic. We're so excited to begin teaching them and they are so in tune with the Spirit. Jas prayed at the end of the lesson for the first time in his life and said that he felt a very powerful energy go through him. The Spirit is so strong when individuals are humble enough to exercise their faith. SO wonderful!

9.  Did any mail (including packages) arrive this week?

No....maybe this week? :)

FINISH MY SENTENCE...

10. Now that I've described a typical Sunday, here is what my Preparation Days usually look like....

normal morning schedule, out the door at 10 to email, then eat food, then grocery shop, then clean the car, then the apartment/zone activity/write letters/oil change/buy desks/anything else we need to do. then begin proselyting at 6pm til 9! They are harder to classify what happens rather than sundays, that's for sure!

11. I was SO EMBARRASSED when...

uh.....oh my goodness! I wasn't embarrassed this week! woot woot! :)

12. Sister Edwards and I couldn't stop laughing when...

ok, so here's a story. we just got out of teaching jas and tanya, and we had just talked with 2 men who didn't quite understand our purpose and were flirting with us....anyways we left and began walking and with the incredible amount of the Spirit within us from that day, I was thinking of all that happened in the past 15 minutes, and I was laughing in my head what those guys has just said and Sister Edwards yells "ah, and they're CUTE, too!!!" to which I just burst out laughing. I knew she was talking about the family, but because I was just thinking about our most previous situation, ah man, it was hilarious! haha she felt a little bit embarrassed....haha:)

13. I jumped for joy when....

I FOUND OUT THAT UNCLE BOB IS GETTING BAPTIZED!!! :)

14. My FAVORITE scripture study centered around....

The Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Diving into Chapter 3 of Preach My Gospel, lesson 1 is one of my favorites!!!

15. Today I am hoping to accomplish...

writing some letters...:) 

16. The Spirit was so strong as....

Jas prayed for the first time in his life. So so special, and so personal!

17. Something new I learned this week was...

God truly does prepare those whom he calls. I have a testimony about that now. so grateful.

18. I am most grateful for...

patriarchal blessings

setting apart blessings

the priesthood

fast and testimony meetings

the opportunity to serve the Lord as a missionary for His Church

Well, I need to go, but know that I KNOW that the same Gospel taught by prophets of old and our Savior, Jesus Christ, has been restored to the Earth today through a living prophet. God has worked in this way since the days of Adam, why would He change now? I testify that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and He has called another prophet to head His kingdom upon the Earth at this time and has restored the priesthood authority for His children to receive the necessary ordinances to bring to pass the salvation of His children. This is truth. Now let's share it. :) How GREAT is our calling!!!

Love for now and for ever,

Sister De Groot :)

Missionary Invitation: Read the introduction of the Book of Mormon, members and nonmembers, and truly ponder what it's saying. Then take the invitation from the witnesses of the restoration. Let it change you. :)

 my old area in ETOBICOKE!!!:)

Snow from my old apartment :)

Exchanges with Sister Duran! :)